Data centers include rows of stacked computer and communication equipment. For cooling purposes, computer and communication equipment draws air from the surrounding environment into the equipment at one side and exhausts the air out of the equipment at another side. A data center may include an arrangement of hot aisles and cold aisles in order to increase the cooling efficiency of the data center. By mounting a row of the stacked computer and communication equipment in the same direction, cold air from the cold aisle will flow into the equipment, and hot air will exhaust out of the equipment to the hot aisle.
Some computer and communication equipment such as, for example, aggregation switches (top-of-rack switches), includes a plurality of I/O connectors (e.g., RJ45 connectors or SFP connectors) at the front side. In order to reduce mixing of the hot air in the hot aisle and the cold air in the cold aisle, and thus improve the cooling efficiency of the data center, computer and communication equipment may draw air in from the cold aisle at a left, right or top side and exhaust air to the hot aisle at a back side.